Atlanta Braves Rookie Does Something Rarely Done in Baseball History with Great Outing

The Atlanta Braves are getting historic contributions from rookie Spencer Schwellenbach in his rookie season.
Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Spencer Schwellenbach (56) follows through on a pitch against the New York Mets during the first inning at Citi Field on July 27.
Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Spencer Schwellenbach (56) follows through on a pitch against the New York Mets during the first inning at Citi Field on July 27. / Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
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The Atlanta Braves shut out the New York Mets on Saturday by a score of 4-0. With the win, the Braves are now 55-48 while the loss drops the Mets to 55-49. The two teams are battling it out for the top spot in the National League wild card picture.

In the win, Braves rookie Spencer Schwellenbach dominated on the mound. The rookie threw 7.0 shutout innings, allowing just two hits and no walks. He struck out 11 and moved to 4-5 on the season with a 4.06 ERA.

According to Sarah Langs of MLB.com, he's joined an exceedingly rare group in baseball history.

60+ strikeouts and 10 or fewer walks in first 10 career outings, since at least 1901:

2024 Spencer Schwellenbach
2024 Jared Jones
2014 Masahiro Tanaka

Schwellenbach has 60 strikeouts in 57.2 career innings. He has a WHIP of 1.06. His contributions have been incredibly important to a Braves team that has World Series aspirations, but has been dealt a ton of injury issues. The team is out Ronald Acuna Jr. for the year (ACL) and ace Spencer Strider (Tommy John surgery) and has needed people like Schwellenbach to step up.

The Braves and Mets will play another big matchup on Sunday afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 1:40 p.m. ET. Right-hander Reynaldo Lopez will pitch for Atlanta. The All-Star is 7-4 with a 2.12 ERA on the season. The Mets will counter with lefty David Peterson, who is 5-0 with a 3.14 ERA.

Both teams will also be in action on Monday. The Mets will host the Twins while the Braves will take on the Brewers.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady.